


Why Bristol?

by ThePrettiestOfLights



Series: The Echo AU [4]
Category: The Yogscast
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-28
Updated: 2017-04-28
Packaged: 2018-10-25 02:44:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10755096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThePrettiestOfLights/pseuds/ThePrettiestOfLights
Summary: Why exactly did Echo move back to Bristol fourteen years after she left?[A canon part of The Echo AU, because I like writing this AU sometimes]





	Why Bristol?

**Author's Note:**

> HAPPY BIRTHDAY, THEPRETTIESTOFLIGHTS!  
> Yes, I actually remembered to do this thing (thanks to Silver for reminding me to finish it)! This isn't the best thing I've written for this AU, but I've decided I don't care. It also may be slightly wrong timeline-wise, but it's my AU and I do what I like.  
> It's been a rough year for me personally, and this mess of an account has helped me through a lot of it.  
> Thank you, everyone. It means so much to me.

"Echo?" Toby asked.  
"Yeah?" Echo replied absently, tapping away at her keyboard. She was stretched out on her sofa with a mug of tea next to her.  
"Why Bristol?" He was upside down on the other sofa, his feet dangling over the other side. Toby had turned up out of the blue, saying he had a day off work and nothing to do. Echo had let him in on the promise that he’d let her get on with her work, and he wouldn’t break anything.  
"What?" She looked up from her laptop in confusion.  
"Why did you move back to Bristol? There's fifty one cities in England, you could have moved to any of them." He said, not looking at her.  
"You googled that, didn't you?" Echo smiled.  
"Maybe I'm smart." Toby suggested.  
"Unlikely." Echo joked.  
"Shut up. Answer the question." He demanded.  
"I don't know." She shrugged. "Bristols a nice place, I guess."  
"Nothing to do with YOGS then? Or Yoglabs?” He asked, his tone almost accusatory.  
"Toby, I had forgotten everything that happened at YOGS. I only remembered because Katie found me." Echo genuinely couldn't remember why she had decided on Bristol. It was probably on her mothers advice.  
"Sure." He replied, obviously unconvinced. Toby's phone started ringing, so he righted himself on the sofa and answered. He walked into the kitchen. "Hey. No, I'm at Emily's."  
Echo opened a search engine and typed " _How many cities are there in England?_ ”  
51\. Toby had been right. He’d definitely googled it.  
Why had she moved to Bristol? She worked from home, she could have moved to anywhere in the country as long as she had a wifi connection.  
Toby walked back into the room and sat on the sofa. "Sorry. It was Fiona. She wanted to know where I was.”  
"Why do you still use those stupid code names?" Echo asked.  
He shrugged. "Aesthetic." She raised an eyebrow. He smiled. “Strife and Katie told me to."  
"Right. Of course." Echo nodded. They sat in silence for a few minutes. "I think Ma told me to move to Bristol."  
"Really? Why?" Toby asked.  
"She said... it was the best place for me to move to. She even suggested my old apartment." Echo said.  
"Did she point out Fiona's coffee shop to you too?" He asked.  
"Yeah, she did. Dad wanted me to move to Bath, but he stopped suggesting it after a while. He told me I should listen to Ma." Echo said distantly. "I never told her I wasn't Kim, you know. I should have.”  
"Does she know what happened at YOGS?" Toby asked.  
Echo shook her head. "I couldn't. I just told her Echo was gone. She doesn’t even know what happened last year.”  
"Didn't your Ma have an Echo?” He asked.  
“Does it matter? Why are you asking?” Echo snapped. Kim had only ever told Toby, Katie, Strife and Parvis about her Ma’s echo. She didn’t see any reason to tell the others.  
“No reason.” Toby said quickly.  
“Who told you to ask?” She narrowed her eyes. “Strife? Katie? Fiona?” Toby didn’t speak. “Smith? Trott? Nilesy?” He coughed. “ _Nilesy_ did?”  
“I never said any of this.” Toby whispered. “Nilesy thinks something is up with you and your family.”  
“‘Somethings up’ is an understatement.” Echo laughed weakly. Toby stayed silent. “What else did he say?”  
“He thinks your Ma knew about Yoglabs. That’s why she sent you back.” Toby said, trying to sound unconvinced.  
“That’s… _possible_ , I guess. But she never knew anything. I told her Hannah, Duncan and Tee had moved schools. We haven’t talked about it in... fifteen years.” She whispered.  
“Look, I… Nilesy asked me to, said you’d listen to me. I can tell him your Ma never even mentioned Bristol to you.” Toby said, almost stumbling over his words.  
Echo had already pulled out her phone. “Tell him everything I just said. I need to call Ma.” She walked into her bedroom with the phone to her ear.  
—  
Mrs Richards picked up her phone and checked the caller ID. She wasn’t sure why her daughter was calling her now. Kim was meant to be working, and very rarely called her during the day.  
“Hello?” She said as she accepted the call.  
“Ma, can I ask you a question?” Kim asked without a greeting.  
“Of course you can, darling.” Mrs Richards put down the knife she was holding and leaned against the counter.  
“Do you remember Echo?” Kim asked.  
“Do you mean your imaginary friend? Of course I do, you _hated_ her.” Mrs Richards recounted.  
“She wasn’t imaginary and you know it.” Kim sounded frustrated. “What did you call your Echo, out of interest?”  
“I didn’t call her anything. She named me. I’m not the original, remember?” Mrs Richards gave up on pretending. There was no point. Kim knew too much, and had figured out most of it on her own.  
“Well, neither am I.” Kim said. “I’ll explain later, I promise, but-“  
“I know.” Mrs Richards sighed. “You’re taller than Kim. Other than that, you did a pretty good job pretending.”  
“Hold up, you knew I wasn’t Kim and you didn’t say anything? For _seventeen years_!” Echo exclaimed.  
“You never told me, so I guessed you didn’t want me to know. I’m sorry, sweetheart.” Mrs Richards said.  
“Do you know anything else I didn’t tell you?” Echo asked.  
“Something happened last year, just before Fiona closed her coffee shop. No one I asked would be specific, not even Alex.” Mrs Richards said.  
“Do you mean Parvis or Smith? Actually, it doesn’t matter. I’ll explain what happened soon, but… why did you tell me to move back to Bristol?” Echo inquired.  
“I knew something was going on there to do with the Echoes, but I didn’t know what. I thought you were smart enough to figure it out. Your old friends turning up was just a bonus.” Mrs Richards added.  
“But you pointed out Fiona’s coffee shop to me.” Echo said, confused. “Fiona helped us out loads. She was the only reason we actually got anything done.”  
“That was a coincidence, I think.” Mrs Richards couldn’t even remember pointing out a coffee shop. It had been three years, after all. “I just knew you like coffee and I was desperate for you to move to Bristol.”  
“Alright, that’s fine. I’ll call you later and explain everything I can. Bye Ma.” Echo said quickly.  
“Hold on, Echo. Why are you asking?” Mrs Richards asked before her daughter could hang up.  
“Well, uh… Nilesy thinks we knew about the thing that happened last year before it… happened.” Echo mumbled. “I think he thinks we were hiding things from him.”  
“Tell him I knew very little, and if I knew more I would have told you everything. Of course I would.” Mrs Richards said. "It's not our fault anyone died."  
“I know, Ma. I’ll talk to you later.” Echo said. “Bye.”  
“Bye darling.” And Echo hung up.

 

**Author's Note:**

> There's someone I need to say a massive thank you to before I end this.  
> A few months after I started posting on here, there was one person who would alway crop up in the comments.  
> Silvery_Moon_Thing.  
> Now, how ever many months later (I've lost track, honestly), I consider her a good friend and without her I don't think I would have written half of the things I have written.  
> So, thank you so so much Silver, for being a fantastic friend, for being a nice person, for sending me many pictures of Sneks, and plotting to take over the internet with me.  
> #GentleSnekForPresident


End file.
